WHY AND HOW?
GOGI’S APPEAL
“To achieve what I have achieved, I must thank above all my family and many basketball and sports friends.
Many successes do not come by themselves, but are the result of hard work, sacrifices, and difficult challenges.
But in the end, what truly counts are friendships, beautiful memories, and many wonderful moments.
And among them is certainly the opportunity I now have to inspire children by example and to provide young people with better opportunities to engage in sports.
I want to do this through the basketball camp, the renovation of basketball courts across Slovenia, and the humanitarian initiatives of the Goran Dragić Foundation.
All children deserve equal opportunities to fulfill their dreams.
Regardless of the social environment they come from or any physical limitations they may have.
I am convinced that together with our partners we will carry out many more charitable projects in the future and thus contribute to a better future for our community.”
THE DRAGON, GOGI, GILE, KOSEŠKI DRAGON
Goran Dragić (May 6, 1986) is one of the greatest Slovenian basketball players and athletes of all time. A native of Ljubljana, a father of two, and an exceptional individual who strives to think positively every day. The point guard made history in Slovenian sports as the first Slovenian to play in the NBA All-Star Game (2017) and to be selected to the All-NBA Team (2014), as well as the captain of the Slovenian national team that, with him as the tournament’s MVP, won the European Championship in Istanbul in 2017.
In the Slovenian national team he leads both all-time lists. He ranks first in appearances with 90 games played, and he also tops the national team scoring list with 1,095 points.
In the NBA, the left-handed point guard shined for 15 seasons, from 2008 to 2023. In the United States he wore the jerseys of the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks. Gogi achieved his greatest success as a member of the Miami Heat, reaching the NBA Finals in 2020, the biggest stage in club basketball.
It is also important to highlight the MIP award (Most Improved Player of the NBA for the 2013/14 season), which Dragić received as a player of the Phoenix Suns, and the fact that in 2018, wearing the Miami Heat jersey, he became the first Slovenian basketball player selected to the prestigious NBA All-Star Game.
The Dragon, as the popular Gogi is often called in the United States, has been organizing his basketball camp since 2014, and in 2020 he founded the charitable Goran Dragić Foundation. Its mission is the renovation and development of smart basketball courts across Slovenia, as well as support for socially or physically disadvantaged children and para-athletes.
He concluded his rich, two-decade professional career in August 2024 with the spectacular two-day event I Feel Slovenia Night of the Dragon. The charitable farewell was highlighted by the presence of numerous global basketball stars and a fundraising effort in which, together with many sponsors, partners, donors, and fans, nearly €900,000 was raised to support the Botrstvo v športu program and his own charitable foundation.
The word legend is often overused in Slovenian sports. But Gogi truly is a legend. A legend with his feet firmly on the ground and his head and heart in the right place.
